The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver

Summary

The Binge Cases: Scary Terri
Episode: The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver
Release Date: December 2, 2024
Host: Jonathan Hirsch
Producer: Cooper Mall
Executive Producer: Catherine St. Louis
Production Team: Scott Somerville, Zoe Culkin, Tracy Lee, Tameka Balance Kolasny, Sammy Allison
Legal Team: Rachel Goldberg, Lauren Pagoni
Special Thanks: Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasek, Jamie Myers

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Introduction

In the chilling episode titled The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver, investigative reporter Jonathan Hirsch delves deep into a series of enigmatic deaths connected to Terri Hoffman, a spiritual leader based in Dallas, Texas. Spanning from 1977 to 1989, the episode unravels how Hoffman, often dubbed the "Charlie Manson you’ve never heard of," may have orchestrated a web of manipulation and deceit leading to multiple untimely deaths.

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The Tragic Loss of Devereaux Cleaver

A Promising Young Life Cut Short

[02:02] Narrator: "When I started looking into a string of mysterious deaths in Dallas, Texas in the 1970s and 80s, I had no idea what kind of madness, carnage and darkness I'd find there."

Devereaux Cleaver, a bright and loving 14-year-old, appears to be the first victim in this series. Her tragic death during a vacation to Hawaii sets the stage for uncovering deeper, more sinister connections.

[02:43] Gail Cleaver: "Tall, long, beautiful, curly blonde hair. Like Chuck used to say. She had legs all the way to Bakersfield."

Devereaux's stepmother, Gail Cleaver, provides a heartfelt description of Devereaux, emphasizing her innocent and vibrant nature.

The Fateful Swim

[02:54] Narrator: "Sandra and Devereaux had gone swimming that day after lunch."

The day of the incident was marked by an ill-advised decision to swim in a lagoon near their Hawaii hotel, an area notorious for treacherous currents and sharp coral reefs.

[06:22] Gail Cleaver: "They had gathered Sandra up off of a coral reef, bleeding all over. But Devereaux was missing."

The disappearance of Devereaux amidst the chaos raises immediate suspicions about the possibility of foul play rather than a mere accident.

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Terri Hoffman: The Enigmatic Spiritual Leader

Building Influence

[10:35] Gail Cleaver: "Her vulnerability hit her terribly. She lost her father in an airplane crash. And she lost her 16-year-old sister, younger sister, in an automobile crash within a two-year period of time."

Sandra Cleaver's alignment with Terri Hoffman stems from her profound personal losses, making her susceptible to Hoffman's influence.

[10:54] Narrator: "Terri was a kind of spiritual life coach."

Terri Hoffman, a heavyset woman in her 40s with piercing brown eyes, leads the Conscious Development of Body, Mind and Soul, Inc. (CDBMs), attracting followers through seminars on reincarnation and spiritual energies.

[11:22] Terry Hoffman: "Oh, Terry. Yeah. You know, the more I get to know about this, it's just thrilling to think of all this help. And it is nice."

Despite her unassuming exterior, Hoffman's words had a captivating effect on her disciples, including Sandra Cleaver.

Manipulative Tactics

[08:22] Gail Cleaver: "Are those items that are used to control and combat shield against black lords on both the Fifth Amendment."

Hoffman's control tactics included the use of bizarre artifacts and psychological manipulation, making it challenging to directly link her to the series of deaths.

[12:21] Terry Hoffman: "At any point in time in your life, you've been negative, then what happens is you. You attract negative elementals and elementaries to you when you're negative."

Her teachings emphasized elimination of negativity, which often translated into control over her followers' personal lives and decisions.

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Blended Family Dynamics and Rising Tensions

Formation of the Blended Family

[08:44] Narrator: "From Sony Music Entertainment. This is scary. Terry. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Chapter one. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver."

Chuck Cleaver and Gail Cleaver form a blended family with Devereaux, navigating the complexities of step-parenting amidst external pressures from Terri Hoffman.

[09:50] Gail Cleaver: "She was impacting their lives big time."

Hoffman's influence strained the Cleavers' relationship, especially as Sandra's allegiance to Hoffman grew stronger.

Custody Battles and Suspicions

[16:16] Gail Cleaver: "But the first time that Sandra Cleaver has visitation rights. We fear for your daughter's life."

The custody battle over Devereaux intensified as Chuck sought full custody to shield Devereaux from Hoffman's growing influence. Lawyers on both sides expressed concerns over Sandra's mental stability and Hoffman's manipulative reach.

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The Final Vacation and Devereaux's Disappearance

Preparation for Hawaii

[24:21] Gail Cleaver: "Chuck was very cautious. He did not like this. But Devereaux really wanted to go. She wanted to go with her mother."

Despite Chuck's reservations, Devereaux's desire to spend quality time with her mother led to the fateful trip to Hawaii.

[25:59] Gail Cleaver: "She knew she was going to Hawaii soon and she wanted to say goodbye."

Gail recalls the last time she saw Devereaux, highlighting the eerie premonition surrounding the upcoming tragedy.

The Day of the Tragedy

[26:23] Gail Cleaver: "They had gone for a picnic."

On February 25, 1979, Sandra and Devereaux ventured into the dangerous waters of Wailupe Peninsula, ignoring posted warnings against swimming.

[26:39] Gail Cleaver: "And they went to the windward side of the island. And as it turns out, there were posters all over that beach marked, do not enter the water. No swimming."

The decision to swim in such treacherous conditions raises suspicions about Sandra's intentions and Hoffman's possible involvement.

[27:10] Gail Cleaver: "But Devereux, Devereaux and Sandra went out holding hands, singing Somewhere over the Rainbow, which was Devereux's favorite song from wizard of Oz."

The serene image contrasts sharply with the imminent disaster, deepening the mystery.

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Unraveling the Conspiracy

Return to Dallas and Immediate Aftermath

[28:14] Narrator: "She thought, why the hell was Terry Hoffman calling us?"

Upon returning to Dallas, Chuck discovers Devereaux's body on a plane, leading to immediate doubts about the nature of her death.

[28:30] Gail Cleaver: "He wouldn't let me go with him."

Chuck's solo investigation begins to uncover inconsistencies and potential links to Terri Hoffman.

[29:55] Gail Cleaver: "That's right. Yeah, I remember that, he said. It was like a curtain came over her. She became a different person, almost as."

Hoffman's sudden and unexplained presence during their grief suggests deeper manipulation at play.

Financial Exploitation and Manipulation

[32:40] Narrator: "Devereux's will, a will that she had written that Chuck didn't know anything about."

A mysterious will reveals that Devereaux had allegedly donated all her assets to Terri Hoffman, further cementing suspicions of coercion and exploitation.

[33:06] Gail Cleaver: "Because there's no smoking gun."

The absence of concrete evidence makes it challenging to directly link Hoffman to the deaths, relying instead on patterns of control and influence.

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A Web of Murders and Mind Control

[33:16] Narrator: "I go searching for answers. I got through unscathed, mostly unscathed. But the rest of them, they just went down."

The investigation reveals a dozen connected deaths, all with potential ties to Terri Hoffman and her CDBMs group.

[33:28] Narrator: "She'll have my children killed."

Families of the deceased allege that Hoffman employed mind control tactics, drained their finances, and orchestrated circumstances leading to their demise.

[34:08] Narrator: "Unlock all episodes of Scary Terry ad free now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel."

The episode culminates in questioning whether Terri Hoffman was behind these orchestrated tragedies, painting her as a formidable and elusive antagonist.

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Conclusion

The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver serves as a haunting exploration into the dark underbelly of spiritual manipulation and its deadly consequences. Through meticulous storytelling and compelling firsthand accounts, Jonathan Hirsch invites listeners to ponder the true extent of Terri Hoffman's influence and the sinister patterns that may lie beneath seemingly isolated tragedies.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• [06:22] Gail Cleaver: "They had gathered Sandra up off of a coral reef, bleeding all over. But Devereaux was missing."
• [07:19] Gail Cleaver: "My theory is my brain, what I think was supposed to happen. This is just me and my brain thinking it's not a fact. I think they were both supposed to die that day."
• [08:22] Gail Cleaver: "Are those items that are used to control and combat shield against black lords on both the Fifth Amendment."
• [10:35] Gail Cleaver: "Her vulnerability hit her terribly. She lost her father in an airplane crash. And she lost her 16-year-old sister, younger sister, in an automobile crash within a two-year period of time."
• [11:22] Terry Hoffman: "Oh, Terry. Yeah. You know, the more I get to know about this, it's just thrilling to think of all this help. And it is nice."
• [16:16] Gail Cleaver: "But the first time that Sandra Cleaver has visitation rights. We fear for your daughter's life."
• [19:03] Character Voice: "Oh, just like a sister. Amazing. Loved her. She was certainly more soft spoken and more shy than I am, but so kind and just loved all the, all the things that a young girl would love."
• [22:42] Character Voice: "I feel like she never felt like she had her mother's attention and her mother's love that most people would perceive as normal at the age that she was."
• [26:39] Gail Cleaver: "And they went to the windward side of the island. And as it turns out, there were posters all over that beach marked, do not enter the water. No swimming."
• [33:06] Gail Cleaver: "Because there's no smoking gun."
• [33:28] Narrator: "She'll have my children killed."

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The Binge Cases: Scary Terri masterfully intertwines personal tragedy with a broader investigation into a series of mysterious deaths. By presenting credible testimonies and intricate details, it invites listeners to engage deeply with the unsettling possibility that Terri Hoffman orchestrated these events through manipulation and control. As the layers of deceit peel away, the true horror lies not just in the deaths themselves but in the pervasive influence of a malevolent leader cloaked in the guise of spiritual guidance.

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Transcript

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[Movie Trailer Voice]

Come to Me Focus Features invites you to succumb to the darkness. From director Robert Eggers comes a masterpiece of horror.

[Narrator]

He is coming.

[Character Voice]

This creature is a force more powerful than evil.

[Podcast Host]

It is death itself.

[Movie Trailer Voice]

Nosferatu we did R under 17 nanometer without parent only theaters Christmas Day special engagements in Dolby and imax.

[Podcast Host]

This week on this IS History in Conversation. Join me, Dan Jones for an interview with the man, the myth, the legend, Stephen Fry. We'll be talking about the impact of Greek myths on the Middle Ages and get stuck into our favorite and least favorite heroes of legend. Aeneas is a very annoying hero. The word that's always attached to him is pious. Whatever the gods tell him to do, whatever a prophet tells him to do, he does it. Search this is History wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator]

When I started looking into a string of mysterious deaths in Dallas, Texas in the 1970s and 80s, I had no idea what kind of madness, carnage and darkness I'd find there. I also didn't think I'd stumble across another Charlie Manson. Devereaux Cleaver had just turned 14 when her mom, Sandra Cleaver, invited her to go on a vacation to Hawaii. Her mom's fiance, Lynn Fairchild, would be there, too, and her close friend and mentor, Terry Devereaux's stepmother, Gail Cleaver, remembers her as a bright girl, sweet and shy.

[Gail Cleaver]

Tall, long, beautiful, curly blonde hair. Like Chuck used to say. She had legs all the way to Bakersfield.

[Narrator]

She loved animals and basketball and her new stepsiblings. Gail had a son and two daughters from a previous marriage. They were this Brady Bunch type family. A friend of hers told me Devra was excited to go, but Chuck and his new wife, Gail, were worried about the trip. They really didn't care for the people Sandra hung around with, especially her friend Terry, to whom she was practically attached at the hip. But spending Quality time with her mom was something Devereaux didn't get to do very much. And Chuck and Gail didn't want to get in the way of that. The Wailupe in Oahu, a windy peninsula southeast of Honolulu. It means, literally, kite water, on account of the breezy Pacheta coastline where they could take flight and nearly touch the sky. You can see them today guiding surfers across the water like disembodied souls under the bright sun. Hawaii was an exotic wonderland for Devereaux, far from the dusty horizon, the muscular cloud clusters miles high, and the hot blanket of air draping Dallas like a set piece in a movie.

[Gail Cleaver]

Chuck and I had been out at a couple friend of ours that night, and we'd gotten home late and we crawled into bed. But it was about 1:30 in the morning and I answered the phone.

[Narrator]

There was a woman's voice on the other end of the line.

[Terry Hoffman]

Hello?

[Gail Cleaver]

I handed the phone over to Chuck, and the next thing I remember hearing was. And he sat bolt right up in bed and said, what do you mean she's missing? I'll never forget that as long as I live.

[Narrator]

Sandra and Devereaux had gone swimming that day after lunch. Just 20 or so minutes from their hotel in Honolulu was a beach. More like a lagoon, actually. It was ankle deep for about a half mile out from the shore. An odd choice for swimming. Lynn, Sandra's fiance, stayed back, napping off one too many glasses of champagne after lunch. Go on, have fun, he told them. Suddenly, underneath them was a patch of coral reef, tough and sharp like knives and sandpaper. The water was deepening now, too. That far out, it's hard to gauge the size of a wave. That's when one wave came roaring past, knocking them off of the raft. Another wave and she was gone. Sandra looked over and couldn't see her daughter. She'd been swept under by the current. She dove underneath, looking for her. She couldn't find her. That's where Sandra's account trails off. She woke later on the rocky shoreline calling for help. Meanwhile, Lynn woke up from his cat nap, recognized something was wrong. He alerted authorities on the beach, who dragged Sandra back in.

[Gail Cleaver]

They had gathered Sandra up off of a coral reef, bleeding all over. But Devereaux was missing.

[Narrator]

Chuck got out of bed and headed towards the airport. It was like an eclipse flashed across the sky. A dark pall covered their world. A chill shot through them that they would never be able to shake.

[Gail Cleaver]

We've lived in the darkness of how this hovered over our lives.

[Narrator]

Their daughter was Gone. Life would never be the same. And from the moment their phone rang that awful night, Gail had a creeping suspicion that would soon overcrowd everything. This wasn't a freak accident.

[Gail Cleaver]

My theory is my brain, what I think was supposed to happen. This is just me and my brain thinking it's not a fact. I think they were both supposed to die that day.

[Narrator]

Devereaux and Sandra were collateral damage in a sick and deadly conspiracy. And the terrible truth is, I think Gail was right. These shark eyes, those cold dark eyes. The most sophisticated sociopath I've ever observed.

[Character Voice]

Left behind a series of bizarre diaries and writings associated with Terry Hoffman and a group she founded called the Conscious Development of Body, Mind and Soul, Inc.

[Gail Cleaver]

Really see how evil she really was.

[Narrator]

Like heartless. There is no doubt that she killed.

[Gail Cleaver]

Are those items that are used to control and combat shield against black lords on both the Fifth Amendment.

[Narrator]

Why do you think it was so difficult to tie Terry to these deaths?

[Gail Cleaver]

Cause there's no smoking gun.

[Narrator]

From Sony Music Entertainment. This is scary. Terry. I'm Jonathan Hirsch. Chapter one. The Mysterious Death of Devereaux Cleaver. Chuck and Gail were the perfect match. An all American couple. Chuck was tall and muscular, with a gentle smile and wavy brown hair. Played college basketball, worked in commercial real estate. Gail had fine blonde hair, high cheekbones. A model. She in fact, was one in those days for a chain of department stores in Texas. But the couple also came together with history, kids from another marriage, previous relationships. The biggest challenge in their young life together was no doubt sharing Devereaux with Sandra. Because it always felt to them like they weren't just sharing Devereaux with Sandra, they were sharing her with Terry. Terry Hoffman.

[Gail Cleaver]

She was impacting their lives big time.

[Narrator]

Terri was a kind of spiritual life coach. She'd recently started a group she was calling Conscious Development of Body, Mind and Soul. We'll call them CDBMs for short. Under this name, she hosted group meditation sessions where she would also give lectures to a growing number of people in Dallas about things like reincarnation, the soul and the hidden energies that inform and power our world. She'd host these events around North Dallas, often on the campus of Southern Methodist University. And Sandra was one of Terry's first disciples and a close friend. Sandra had had a tough few years and was searching for meaning in her life.

[Gail Cleaver]

Her vulnerability hit her terribly. She lost her father in an airplane crash. And she lost her 16 year old sister, younger sister, in an automobile crash within a two year period of time.

[Narrator]

And with those consecutive losses, a window opened up in her heart. She'd do anything for relief, take any advice that seemed to get her to a better place. Terri was a heavyset woman in her 40s, round frame, lumbering, big, piercing brown eyes and tough black hair often pulled back into a bun. She didn't, on the surface, appear to be particularly charismatic, but it was her words that captivated people.

[Terry Hoffman]

Oh, Terry. Yeah. You know, the more I get to know about this, it's just thrilling to think of all this help. And it is nice. And you know what's so sad is that not more people in the world, you know, have any access to it.

[Narrator]

There are few recordings left of Terri, but this is from one of these counseling sessions she gave to her students. Her voice is slight, with a thick Texas lilt. She was gentle and nurturing to her students. A divine mother, one former disciple told me. Life, Terri instructed her earliest acolytes was a journey towards spiritual evolution. And she was there to help you advance, to cheer you along as you became more spiritually aware, but also to encourage you to eliminate things that weren't serving you.

[Terry Hoffman]

At any point in time in your life, you've been negative, then what happens is you. You attract negative elementals and elementaries to you when you're negative.

[Narrator]

This all sounded too kooky for Chuck. He stayed out of it. His wife was slipping. He didn't approve of this new relationship, which was taking time away from raising the family and also costing them. She was buying up expensive jewelry from Terry made of semi precious stones she claimed would provide spiritual protection. When Sandra started writing checks for several thousand dollars made out to Terry's group, Chuck had enough. They were at an impasse. That's when he met Gail. Both of them had been invited to a minister's home.

[Gail Cleaver]

I was still married to my Lutheran minister husband, and we used to get together with a bunch of other ministers every now and then because they knew other. The wives liked each other. And one time we went over to a pastor's house here in Oak Cliff, Dallas. One of the other couples had invited to the party, Chuck Cleaver and his present wife, Sandra Cleaver.

[Narrator]

It was the first time Gail met Sandra.

[Gail Cleaver]

She was very intelligent, very pretty, and she was very different.

[Narrator]

Different like she marches to the beat of her own drum, eccentric.

[Gail Cleaver]

And she was telling the women in the kitchen, two of them being ministers wives. I wasn't in the kitchen at this time, but she was telling them that she could change the wine back into water.

[Narrator]

It took the women a minute to realize she was being serious.

[Gail Cleaver]

Yeah, whereas Jesus, of course, changed water into wine as his first miracle on earth. She said because of her power, she could turn the wine back into water. To which, of course, the minister's wife said, please don't.

[Narrator]

And I'm sure it felt unsettling to the other women in that room, these relatively well to do Christian women chatting in the kitchen of a Dallas suburb. 1972.

[Gail Cleaver]

I didn't know their marriage was going to heck at that time. But I soon found out later from one of the other ministers that their marriage was not looking good.

[Narrator]

Not long after, Sandra asked Chuck for a divorce.

[Gail Cleaver]

Then the reason for their divorce was because Terry Hoffman had told Sandra that Chuck was impeding Sandra's spiritual growth.

[Narrator]

Who was this woman? She'd wrestled her way into the center of a marriage and managed to convince Sandra that to evolve, her husband had to go. She had spiritual practices to pursue or whatever, and Chuck was getting in the way. At the same time, Chuck had started this new blended family. Gail was Devereaux's stepmom. And Devereaux now had a stepbrother and stepsisters close in age. He was concerned about Terry's influence on his daughter. He fought to have full custody of Devereaux.

[Gail Cleaver]

He was about to get custody, and not only his attorney, but Sandra's attorney came to him and said to him, you were about to get custody of your daughter.

[Narrator]

Chuck's lawyer was scared. Sandra had espoused some pretty out there ideas, which she seemed to be absorbing from her friend Terry.

[Gail Cleaver]

But the first time that Sandra Cleaver has visitation rights. We fear for your daughter's life.

[Narrator]

Chuck's attorney feared that Sandra was being influenced, that she might do something she'd later deeply regret. If you move forward and get full custody, his lawyer said, which it looks like you can get, you will win the battle, but you're going to lose the war.

[Gail Cleaver]

They had joint custody then, but Devereaux lived with Sandra.

[Narrator]

Gail and Chuck in the middle of all this, did their best to provide a loving home for Devereaux and to keep the kids insulated from any of the weirdness going on with Sandra and Terry. They were sort of dancing around Sandra trying to stay connected to Dev without getting too involved with her. It felt precarious, unstable. And now lawyers on both sides of the custody dispute were telling them it could be dangerous.

[Podcast Host]

The Black Death is coming for our Plantagenet heroes in the new season of this Is History, A dynasty to die for with me, Dan Jones. It's the story of warrior King Edward iii as he sets off on an epic journey that will change the course of history. First on the to do list for young Edward, overthrow his mum's lover and chase a bishop down the shaft of a castle toilet. Join me, Dan Jones, on this Is History. A Dynasty to die for. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kush Jumbo]

Welcome to Origins with me, Kush Jumbo. The show where the biggest names in entertainment tell me the stories that made them who they are today. Origins is a conversation about my guests, early inspirations and growing up. Guests this season include Dame Anna Winter, Poppy Delevingne, Pete Capaldi, and Golda Rashaval, AKA Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton. I only kind of discovered my sexuality when I went to drama school. Join me every week to hear where it all began. From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Origins with Chris Jumbo.

[Gail Cleaver]

I've got my daughter Kristen sitting right next to me, Jonathan, because she was just two months different in age than Devereaux when Devereaux died. Chrissy can also tweak my memory if I forget anything, but I'm pretty good at memory on this.

[Narrator]

Chrissy is Gail's daughter from her previous marriage. She was closest in age to Devereaux. Seeing Gail and her together. She's a carbon copy of her mom. Silvery blonde hair, high cheekbones, perfect teeth. Chrissy loved Devereaux.

[Character Voice]

Oh, just like a sister. Amazing. Loved her. She was certainly more soft spoken and more shy than I am, but so kind and just loved all the, all the things that a young girl would love. And we met her friends that were at Green Hill and just awesome friends.

[Narrator]

A few months before Devereaux took that trip with her mom to Hawaii, she'd asked her sisters to stay the night with her at Sandra's. It was Sandra's turn to have her, but she'd also planned to host a conscious development meeting at the house, which made Devereaux uncomfortable. She didn't want to be there alone.

[Character Voice]

Yeah, we loved Devereux so much. My sister and I were like, absolutely, we'll go spend the night.

[Narrator]

Kristen figured it'd be your typical teenage sleepover. Junk food, manicures, movie marathons. It was anything but.

[Character Voice]

So we went over to spend the night. I will never forget this. And we were in Deborah's room.

[Narrator]

The house on Manning Lane in Dallas was just a five minute walk walk from Terry's. A big front yard with a paved walkway towards the door. Large sleepy oak trees hung over the walkway on either side. And inside the house, in the living room, all the people from cdbms were there from Deb's room. In the back of the house, the girls could hear all of their voices. They were a little creeped out by the whole thing, but also curious.

[Character Voice]

Devereaux at one point said, you know, let's go see what they're doing.

[Narrator]

They agreed to go check it out.

[Character Voice]

We literally crawled on the hallway floor and opened a door to peek through. And they were all sitting in a circle.

[Narrator]

Men and women from all walks of life were gathered around to listen to Terry. Preppy academics, long haired hippies, young wide eyed seekers and season spiritualists.

[Character Voice]

And we couldn't see exactly, but we heard some discussion about how somebody's blood was evil.

[Narrator]

Wait, what?

[Character Voice]

And that was enough for me. I scurried on back to Devereaux's room with my sister and we were so freaked out.

[Narrator]

Chrissy never forgot what she heard that night. It was over 40 years ago and it seared into her memory. How can someone's blood be evil? Why were these adults acting like that was a perfectly normal thing to be talking about? Chrissy could tell immediately something wasn't kosher about the whole thing.

[Character Voice]

And we never ever went back again.

[Narrator]

Never went back to the house Deb shared with her mom, Sandra. For a sweet kid, Deb had to deal with some pretty heavy stuff at her dad's. She had the stability of a big family, a two parent household, but she still very much loved her mom.

[Character Voice]

One thing I always noticed with her, she loved her daddy. She thought he was the best. And I also saw in her a great desire and need to please her mother. And she had told me on an occasion all she wanted was her mother's love.

[Narrator]

Chrissy told me that love seemed directed towards somebody else.

[Character Voice]

I feel like she never felt like she had her mother's attention and her mother's love that most people would perceive as normal at the age that she was. And I think my mom filled in the gap a lot of that for her. But it was on more than one occasion she said, I just wish my mom would do this with me. Or I just wish my mom would, would not be around these people so much. Or I just wish my mom would, you know, attend this or see this. Or I feel like she always felt like these people were more intrusive and demanding of her mother's attention than her own daughter.

[Narrator]

And as time wore on, Terry roped Sandra more and more into her group conscious development of body, mind and soul. Terry wanted her to help make and sell her jewelry made of precious and semi precious stones that they believed to have special spiritual qualities. They would travel for days at a time, leaving Devo with the family nanny, Louise Watson. Then Sandra invited Devereaux on the trip to Hawaii. It was a bit of a surprise, but here was a chance for mother and daughter to spend time together. Terry would be there too. But that didn't matter to Devereaux. Sandra had, in fact, paid for the trip as a honeymoon present for Terry and her third husband, Ben Johnson. The invite put Chuck and Gail in a tricky spot.

[Gail Cleaver]

Chuck was very cautious. He did not like this. But Devereaux really wanted to go. She wanted to go with her mother.

[Narrator]

And here was Sandra doing what everyone noticed had been lacking. Spending quality time with her daughter. And they might have been doing weird stuff in the living room and talking about blood. But Deborah wasn't involved in any of that, right? She had no undue influence from Terry Hoffman, as far as anyone knew. Chuck and Gail told her it was okay to go.

[Gail Cleaver]

Very shortly before they were to take off. I'll never forget this either. The doorbell rang. Chuck wasn't here. He was at work. And I went to answer the door, and it was Devereaux. And I said, sweetheart, what are you doing here? And she said she was over visiting her friend Carolyn. And since it was gonna be so close that she was gonna be leaving, she wanted to come over and give me a hug. And I was getting ready to go someplace that night with her father. So I invited her in and brought her back into my bathroom because I was getting ready. And she sat there on the closed lid toilet. And then we talked and we visited. And it was just very unusual for her to show up at my front door unannounced or without her father picking her up.

[Narrator]

It was the last time Gail ever saw that young girl, the one she raised and loved as her own.

[Gail Cleaver]

I have remembered that often. She knew she was going to Hawaii soon and she wanted to say goodbye.

[Narrator]

That night, Dev showed up unannounced to the house. She boarded a plane with her mother, Sandra Cleaver and Terry Hoffman to Hawaii. They'd be there for a week.

[Gail Cleaver]

They had gone for a picnic.

[Narrator]

February 25, 1979. The picnic by the beach at Wailupe Peninsula. It was clearly not a safe place to be swimming.

[Gail Cleaver]

And they went to the windward side of the island. And as it turns out, there were posters all over that beach marked, do not enter the water. No swimming.

[Narrator]

It's the kind of detail Gail has played over and over again in her mind. Why would Sandra choose to take Devereaux swimming there unless she knew it was dangerous? And did it anyway.

[Gail Cleaver]

But Devereux, Devereaux and Sandra went out holding hands, singing Somewhere over the Rainbow, which was Devereux's favorite song from wizard of Oz.

[Narrator]

That long walk to the edge of the water towards a senseless tragedy. A senseless tragedy the Cleaver family now believes was no accident. Lynn Fairchild had heard his fiance Sandra's cries for help and alerted the fire department. Two people went out into the water that day and only one returned. And then that night, with Devereaux missing, the phone rang at Chuck and Gail's house. Gail answered, and a woman was on the other end of the line. Wasn't Sandra. It was Terry Hoffman.

[Gail Cleaver]

See, we'd gotten the phone call at 1:00 in the morning. I answered the phone and she asked for Chuck. And I said, who's calling? And she said, terry Hoffman.

[Narrator]

She thought, why the hell was Terry Hoffman calling us? A long and terrible night of uncertainty followed. The next day, Chuck boarded the first plane to Hawaii in search of his daughter with his best friend, Gene Coker.

[Gail Cleaver]

He wouldn't let me go with him.

[Narrator]

Before boarding the plane, they got the word. Dev's body, washed ashore, thank God, had.

[Gail Cleaver]

Not been mutilated or eaten or anything like that, because, oh my gosh, there's nothing worse than having your child missing and not knowing what in the world has happened to him. And. But she. She was found on the beach.

[Narrator]

Chuck arrived at the hospital by that afternoon, where Sandra was recovering.

[Gail Cleaver]

He said it was like the old Sandra when he was in that hospital room with her alone and she was grieving and just kept saying over and over again, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.

[Narrator]

And so Chuck sat in the hospital room with his ex wife, all of his worst fears confirmed about letting his daughter go with Sandra and her weird friends on a vacation halfway across the world. How did they get to this point? A happy young couple, once a beautiful daughter. To this. For a moment, it seemed, despite the cavernous depths separating Chuck and Sandra from each other, that they would be able to grieve together, father and mother. That is, until Terry showed up.

[Character Voice]

And he said when Terry then entered the hospital room, her whole demeanor changed.

[Gail Cleaver]

That's right. Yeah, I remember that, he said. It was like a curtain came over her. She became a different person, almost as.

[Narrator]

If she couldn't show herself to her friend. Terry, in that moment, couldn't appear to be the grieving mother she most certainly was. When Terry came in, she made some quick, dismissive comments about their situation. Chuck's Best friend Gene was there too, he said. A glaze came over Sandy's eyes. Communication was shut down after that. There was something weighing on Chuck's mind. A growing suspicion. A tangled mess of grief, fear and rage.

[Gail Cleaver]

He brought her back home to Dallas. And I guess it was on the same airplane as Sandra and Terry.

[Narrator]

His daughter's body in the cargo of the plane. And a nine hour flight to think about what had happened to her. Chuck knew he didn't have all the information yet, but something wasn't right. He'd question why the trip was happening in the first place. And now this. Why did they choose to swim out there? And why had Sandra acted so strange? When Terry came into the hospital room, Dev's body was transferred to the medical examiner in Dallas. The tox screen came up negative. An autopsy showed no sign of struggle, nothing strange. If someone had had a hand in Devereux death, it wasn't physical. She was then transported to a funeral home. Chuck wanted the girls to have closure, so he brought them all there to view Dev's body before she was cremated. Gail remembers seeing her face like it was yesterday. There was still seaweed in her hair. But something altogether strange had happened. While Chuck and Jean were in flight back to Honolulu, Gail got a call to the house. It was one of Terry Hoffman's children. They said they had a document they needed to show the family. A will. Devereaux's will. A will that she had written that Chuck didn't know anything about. A couple of days after they'd been informed of the will, an unidentified woman entered a Dallas bank where Devereaux had an account and handed the teller the document. The woman was looking to make a withdrawal from the account because according to the will, this dead girl had given all of her money away to Terry Hoffman. Now Chuck and Gail knew there was no doubt in their minds what had happened to their daughter. And there was nothing they could do about it. Why do you think it was so difficult to tie Terry to these deaths?

[Gail Cleaver]

Because there's no smoking gun.

[Narrator]

This season on Scary Terry.

[Character Voice]

However, the string of deaths started in January of 1977.

[Narrator]

I go searching for answers. I got through unscathed, mostly unscathed. But the rest of them, they just went down.

[Gail Cleaver]

Terry has already said she'll have my family killed.

[Narrator]

She'll have my children killed. A dozen people are dead. Their families alleged that it was mind control and that Mrs. Hoffman had gotten them to drain their bank accounts and give her all their assets. How many more accidents would there have been?

[Gail Cleaver]

How many more accidental drownings? How many more people committing suicide disappearing?

[Narrator]

Was Terry Hoffman the Charlie Manson you've never heard of?

[Gail Cleaver]

I will be shocked if there are not more deaths than we know of.

[Narrator]

Unlock all episodes of Scary Terry ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of the show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts. All ad free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series that's all episodes all at once. Search for the binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page, not on apple. Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. Scary Terry is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment. It was hosted and reported by me, Jonathan Hirsch. Cooper Mall is our lead producer and co report of this series with me. Catherine St. Louis is our story Editor. I'm our Executive Producer. Sound design and mixing by Scott Somerville. We use music from apm. Our associate producer is Zoe Culkin. Our fact checker is Tracy Lee. Our production managers are Tameka Balance Kolasny and Sammy Allison. Our lawyers are Rachel Goldberg and Lauren Pagoni. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasek and Jamie Myers.